Financial Assessment & Welfare Benefits Officer

Financial Assessment & Welfare Benefits Officer

A great opportunity to join the Health and Adult Services (HAS) finance service and help us continue to develop the effectiveness of our service. The HAS Finance service undertakes its work to a high standard and is looking for an individual to help us continue our good work unsupervised and under pressure.

The majority of your time in the role will be spent visiting service users in their homes with the following purpose:

• Enabling service users to maximise their income by providing accurate benefits advice and ensuring that all benefits are being claimed for people’s individual circumstances
• Assist service users, where required, in completing their benefit forms, either over the telephone or in person
• Completing timely and accurate financial assessments for service users to establish their liability to their care fees.

This role is pivotal in establishing correct Council expenditure and income, as well as ensuring the wellbeing of the service user is not compromised by their care needs and the associated costs.

• Work closely with our Welfare Rights Unit, Brokerage and Quality Teams, as well as social work and debt recovery staff.
• Be responsible for identifying any safeguarding concerns and escalating them as appropriate.

You will have to understand the Care Act, and specifically the elements that relate to charging for services, welfare benefits system and financial assessments. We deal with complex issues and vulnerable adults so you will have high-quality customer care and communication skills. Experience of dealing with a diverse group of customers, including pensioners and people with disabilities, will be required. You will have experience of working in constructive partnerships with other agencies, e.g. voluntary organisations, Department of Work and Pensions. You will have experience of working in a local authority financial environment, and ideally experience of working in a benefit advice setting. It is essential that you have experience of working in a job requiring accurate figure work.